Lost and Found
by KaitouKudou
Summary: Ai disappears but she is found unexpectedly in a hospital after 8 years with amnesia. Not a very good summary but please R&R!


Lost and Found

It was raining that day. A light drizzle but it was enough to open the rainbow of umbrellas of the people. Five kids were walking home from school, the ignorant three laughing about an accident that had happened during lunch, which ended up with the teacher receiving his meal on his chest, while the other two walked in silence. Haibara Ai wasn't herself that day. She was quiet, more secretive than usual. Every now and then, Conan would call to her and each time she would turn with a start then tell him it was nothing. "It's just the weather," she would say. Conan did not believe her but he knew unless she decides to tell him herself, he won't get a word out of her lips.

At the intersection where they usually split, Conan saw a glint of pine in her eyes when she gave him a quick glance. Then, her usual face returned and she said her goodbyes.

It was later that day when the professor called him. He asked if he had seen Ai because she had not come home. At the time, Conan told him that he shouldn't have anything to worry about. Haibara Ai was really an adult whether she looked like one or not.

Agasa accepted his explanation on the phone but he knew it was highly unlikely. She has never been out past 9:00pm before and she usually called him to tell him that she will be late if she wouldn't get home before supper. It was almost 11:00 but the girl hadn't even left him any message. With a few more worried looks to the door, he decided to just go to bed. 'Maybe Shinichi is right, maybe I'm just getting to that age where an old gook like me begins to worry too much,' he thought to himself and made his way to his bedroom.

Morning came. Agasa awoke with a yawn and a stretch and made his way down to the kitchen where he had expected Ai to be brewing her morning coffee. "Ai-kun, what were you doing last…" his words stopped when the empty room came into view.

That was how she disappeared. The police were notified and within minutes, chief inspector Megure announced to every patrol car in the city to be on the look out for the girl with a detailed description he received from Conan about her appearance when he last seen her. Even Kogorou had shown greater-than-usual determination in the search for the girl. But despite all efforts, she could not be found.

Conan could not help to feel that it was his fault. He had seen there was something wrong with her that day. 'I should have forced her to tell me what was wrong with her that day,' he thought as he grinded his fist against the wall of the agency.

Ran had tried to console him but her words did little to ease the anger that the boy held toward himself. He did have the decency to smile to her with a 'thank you,' so that she would at least be a little less worried about him but his teenage guardian saw through the attempt, which only increased her worries.

The case was closed 6month later. Megure had insisted on it staying open but his superiors saw the case as just a waist of time. 6 month without a single clue to the missing child's whereabouts. Not even the great Mouri Kogorou had managed to find a shred of lead, and there were other cases that needed to be taken care of.

'I failed her,' Conan heaved a sigh as he bounced his soccer ball on his knee, 'I promised her I would keep her safe but the B.O. must have gotten her some how.' As he snapped his teeth together with a 'Damn it!' the ball missed his knee and rolled across the field.

(8 years passes)

The professor sat in the couch of his living room, gazing out his open window. Pictures of the girl were set here and there throughout his home. The ebony of the sky was gradually, but surely, taking over the orange-yellow rays of the sun. Feeling the peaceful wind against his old flesh, he breathed in and rested his eyes.

The 14years old Edogawa Conan walked in to the room with a cup of orange juice in his hands. "It sure is getting hot again, isn't it Pf.," he said.

The old man didn't reply.

"Professor?" the boy called again.

Again, only silence came back.

Worried, Conan rushed to the old man's side and nudged the man on his shoulders. "Prof, wake up. Professor Agasa!" he shouted but the man did not budge.

When the old man awoke next, he found the boy at his feet, bent over on a chair, asleep. Turning to the side, he found a few medicine packs and tubes that were linked to him at his wrist. As he attempted to sit up, he bumped the boy and awoke him.

Conan looked up sleepily from his seat then smiled. "Don't scare me like that professor," the boy said.

The old man had never fully recovered from a fever he got shortly after Ai's disappearance. He had fallen ill numerous times throughout these 8 years with little to no notice of his illness beforehand. This time, however, was more serious than before. He was starting to get old after all.

"I'll go get the doctor," the boy said, standing from his seat.

Conan walked down the tight hallway of the hospital. Upon seeing the first doctor, he called, "Excuse me, the patient in room 302 is awake, could you come and take a look at him please."

While heading back to the room, two nurses came out of a room. "That poor girl, she's so young," said one of them as they slid past.

"It's such a pity, do you think she was abandoned?" said the other.

Conan gave a shrug and peeked inside the room just before the door closed. A silhouette of a girl was sitting on her bed, slightly hunched over as though she was looking at something in her hands.

The following day, he had come across the same two nurses when he was taking a walk. Purely out of curiosity, he decided to ask, "Excuse me, what's the name of that girl in room 312?"

"Oh that's the thing," said the taller of the two, "we don't know. She seems to be suffering from amnesia and the only thing the hospital got was a small card and a case of cash for her to receive treatments."

"Yes, but the doctors say that they can't do much to help her, something about her brain patterns being unusual. From what I hear, they say that she was drugged until she reached the state she is in now," the other added.

"You mentioned a card, what was on it?" Conan asked.

"It had one word on it that we didn't know what it was so we decided to name her after it," the nurse answered.

"It's hard to talk to someone when you don't know their name you know, so she's named Sherry until she gets her memories back," the other finished off.

Conan dashed up the stairs of the hospital, forgetting to thank the nurses for their help. The girl turned when she heard the door of her room explode open. Her hair came down just short of halfway down her back. Through hazy eyes, he watched the boy without any look of particular thought circulating through her head. Though her appearance changed, there was one part that remained the same. The eyes. He recognized them immediately for they held the same quality of pine he had seen that day, the eyes that he could never forget.

"Hai…bara?" he called in a whisper.

The girl only tilted her head questioningly.

TBC…

How was it, like it? Hate it? Please submit a review!


End file.
